Spanish Limas

 Spanish Limas

    So, I ran a poll to find out what I should make this weekend? The choices were vegetable dish, meat dish or another dessert.  I pre-selected recipes for each category (Spanish Limas, Salisbury Steak and Goody Pie) and the winner of the poll was "vegetable dish". I was kind of excited to try this. I've not had lima beans that often and definitely cannot remember ever buying them.  At the store yesterday, I almost couldn't find lima beans and when I did, I had to ask another customer to reach them for me.  I had chosen to use canned (couldn't find dry anyhow) and the cans were double stacked on the top shelf and I am 4'8", so that wasn't happening. Sometimes I climb on shelves to get things, but I knew it wouldn't end well this time if I had tried to get the beans.  Anyhow, lets get back to it. 

    The first step was to wash my veggies, tomato and green pepper (1 medium) and seed the pepper.  Next up was the onion (1 medium-ish) which I peeled and chopped.  I put the green pepper and onion into my large cast iron skillet, in which I had melted 2 tablespoons of butter. Instructions are to brown the onion and green pepper and then add the diced tomato. While the onion and green pepper were doing their thing, I seeded and diced the tomato.  Two and a half Roma tomatoes equaled the 1 cup of tomato called for in the recipe. You could use a little more or less if you like. I set the diced tomato aside and drained my& rinsed my lima beans. 

    Once the onion and green pepper mixture was ready, I added the diced tomato and cooked it on Low for 10 minutes, stirring often. I also prepared my other ingredients aka the seasonings: chili powder (in lieu of straight up chili power, I used my Arial's Spices "Spice & Chili Mix" which I found at the Dallas Farmer's Market), salt  and pepper. After 10 minutes, I added the seasonings and Worcester sauce and made sure to combine thoroughly. Finally, it was time to add the lima beans.  Once I'd stirred everything together, I simmered the mixture for 20 minutes on Low, stirring often. While this was working, I measured out 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese. I used Monterrey-Jack, pre-heated my oven to 350 degrees and buttered a casserole dish (I used one of my favorite retro Anchor-Hocking FireKing dishes) on the bottom and sides.  

    After 20 minutes, I layered the lima bean/onion/tomato mixture with my shredded cheese in the casserole dish. I ended with a layer of cheese and because I love cheese, I ended up using about 3/4 to a 1/2 cup of extra cheese on top. The casserole went in the oven for 30 minutes.  It looked pretty good when I took it out at the end of the cooking time.  I let the dish cool for about 10 minutes and served myself a portion and added a side salad of mixed baby greens. 

    The verdict? I liked this dish. Seasonings are easily adjustable to taste.  I'd maybe add a little more chili powder next time. You could easily add in diced chicken, ham, bacon or even cubed and cooked tofu.  If you don't like lima beans, you could substitute butter beans and it would work.  Would I make this again? Yes. Would I try it with chicken or bacon? Yes. And finally, I've been recognizing the ladies who submitted recipes to the community cookbook which inspired me to start this blog, so "Thank You" to Ethelyn Downing.